Tennis
Boys tennis: Bronxville sends off longtime coach with back-to-back state team titles
Editor’s note: Korey DeBeer is a student at Croton-Harmon High School participating in CHOOSE (Croton-Harmon Options and Opportunities for a Senior Experience), a shadowing program where he is going to sporting events and learning about the procedures on the sidelines for conducting interviews with coaches and players.
That’s one way to send your coach off.
Longtime Bronxville tennis coach Steve Klurfeld has seen plenty of success over the years, and he’ll get to cap his high school varsity coaching career with NYSPHSAA Division II team titles in boys and girls tennis.
Back on June 7, the Bronxville boys tennis team took down Friends Academy to take home their second consecutive Division II team title.
“It felt really good,” said junior co-captain Patrick Kenny. “Especially since our coach is retiring, we’re really excited to send him out on top.”
This is only the third year of the state tournament for team tennis, and with the win, Bronxville has won two of them.
It wasn’t easy for the Broncos. Decimated by a series of injuries, they hobbled into the playoffs but managed to get healthy at the right time. Once healthy, they never looked back and no one was stopping them.
Since the section semifinals, Bronxville had dropped only three matches in team play, and in the state tournament, they lost only one match, and that came in the state championship.
“We had an understanding that if everyone was healthy,” coach Steve Klurfeld said. “And if everyone could stay available, we would have a very good chance at repeating.”
“It was very impressive that they had this dedication that allows them to achieve this level on their own and Bronxville benefits from that.“
It was an impressive school year for Bronxville tennis overall. While the boys raked in section and state team tennis titles, the Lady Broncos did the same during the girls tennis season in the fall.
The taste of victory is addictive. Bronxville boys tennis is reloading next year with a goal in mind, to win a third straight state title. Only this time without Klurfeld, who will be retiring from coaching the Broncos.
Even as their longtime mentor moves on, the high standard and ambition remains.
“I’m glad we could do it for him,” said junior Harrison Brown. “He’s been the pillar of the Bronxville tennis program. He’s coached for 24 years, and after all these years of hard work we were able to send him out on top.”
“We only had one graduate in our starting lineup this year, so you can expect another repeat.”
Bronxville’s road to back-to-back state titles
Section Tournament: The Broncos defeated Briarcliff(3-2), Byram Hills(3-2), and Edgemont(3-0) in that order.
State Tournament: In the regional final, Bronxville beat O’Neill (5-0), while in the state semifinals they drafted Cazenovia (5-0) and to cap off the repeat they beat Friends Academy (3-1)
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